He is her only means of escape... Lady Johanna FitzHenry is trapped. Her arranged marriage to Sir Fulk de Enderby—a veteran of the wars against Robert the Bruce—keeps her tethered to this brutal man, who sees her only as a means to her father's fortune. But now a daring scheme offers her a slim, but precious, chance at freedom: a complete stranger who, for his own desperate reasons, is willing to swear to the court that she was wed to him first... ...But who is he? Though the ploy goes according to plan, her mysterious rescuer leaves many questions unanswered. He is a tall, attractive man who goes by the name of Gervase de Laval and claims to be a poor scholar. But Johanna's attempt to discover the true identity of her hired husband will sweep her into the highest echelons of the English court—and into a dangerous passion she has never known before...